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Flipping Schools: Why it's time to turn your school and community inside out

This brilliant book, focused on the education of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, offers a radical critique of traditional approaches to school improvement. The text argues for a movement away from the focus on social mobility to placing equity at the heart of school leadership. It suggests moving from improvement to social justice through a re-examination of the school's role in relation to its communities. The book is evidence-based and combines a focus on moral leadership with strategies to turn principle into practice.

About the author

Malcolm Groves has worked at the forefront of education innovation, as a teacher, youth worker, adult educator, school leader, inspector, and national adviser. Formerly an NPQH assessor, SIP, and secondary school chair of governors, he is currently a director of the Society of Education Consultants, and a founder director of the pioneering schools research and development network, Schools of Tomorrow.

John West-Burnham is a writer, teacher and independent consultant in education leadership with a particular interest in innovative approaches to learning in schools and communities. He has been a schoolteacher, education officer and has held posts in six universities. John is the author or editor of 30 books He has worked in 27 countries.

Reviews

This is an incisive book about what we need to do to make schooling fit for purpose. It describes where we are, unpicks how we got here and charts some vital steps forward for individuals and communities. It's a flipping good book about schooling. --Mick Waters, author of Thinking Allowed, formerly director of curriculum at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

It is rare to find, in a field as crowded as education, innovative thinking that is both out-of-the-box and yet realistic, so as to be eminently actionable. If education is to impart not only knowledge, but also skills and character, it is clear that one's family and societal environments play a huge role; we all know that 'it takes a village': education, more exactly learning, significantly happens outside formal classrooms; a child's environment has enormous impact on expectations, self-confidence, resilience, and many other competencies. By shining the spotlight on the critical social factors adjacent to formal education, the authors force the conversation to expand its purview, in a refreshingly original and useful direction. --Charles Fadel, Founder, Center for Curriculum Redesign and author, 'Four-Dimensional Education' and 'Artificial Intelligence in Education'

As an educator, I have always held the African proverb that, 'it takes a village to raise a child', close to my heart and this wonderful book not only explains why but exemplifies how. --Richard Gerver